Don't Look Back
by EyesDontTwinkle
Summary: "Promise me. Promise me you'll find me." She said, her voice was desperate. The footsteps were only getting louder. "I promise." He mustered up a crooked smile. She stared at him, failing to return it. She tried to memorize they way he looked in that moment. Under the moonlight his hair shone and even under the circumstances he could pull off that perfect smile. For her.


**I have been dead for like 2 years and now I'm back from the the grave. Creepy way to put it...just ignore that. I just mean I haven't written fanfic in forever. Anyways, enjoy this :)**

 _"_ Run!" He tried to push her, tried to get her legs moving. She wasn't about to budge." I can't leave. Not without you." Her hands reached up and cupped his face. Her fingers skimmed over his features that were barely visible in the dark.

"You have to." She could sense the pain in his eyes, sense the urgency in his voice. She wasn't scared.

"I'm with you, forever. Just like I promised." She felt him push her hands away.

His voice was colder, with seriousness that made her shudder." You're leaving, end of discussion. Stop wasting time."

She took one step backwards.

The footsteps grew closer.

"I'll hold them off long enough for you to get somewhere. Then I'll find you. You know I will. Or I'll die trying."

There was aching in the back of her eyes." I don't want to go." Her eyes glassed over, her vision blurred.

"I know baby, I know." He took one long stride towards her and wrapped her up in a mind numbing kiss. A single tear slipped down her cheek. The whole world drowned out around them. For one long savory moment they were one. There body's, there mind's.

It was over too fast. The second he pulled away she missed the softness of his lips. The tenderness of his touch.

"Promise me. Promise me you'll find me." She said, her voice was desperate. The footsteps were only getting louder.

"I promise." He mustered up a crooked smile. She stared at him, failing to return the smile. She tried to memorize they way he looked in that moment. Under the moonlight his hair shone and even under the circumstances he could pull off that perfect smile. For her.

He had a tight grip on her hand but it slowly loosened. She took another step back and their hands broke apart. Too much space lay between them. Too many words they could never say with so little time.

"I love you." Her voice broke.

"I love you too." His voice was strong.

She turned around while she still had the will power. And then she ran. She ran like her life depended on it. All she wanted was to look back. To see him one more time.

She didn't. She pushed forward.

The trees were dark and scary, the forest unfamiliar. She weaved her way through it, her legs on fire.

She didn't stop running until her legs couldn't bear her weight any longer and she collapsed to the ground.

She lay on her back, staring up at the trees. Through the gaps she would spot stars. She tried not to think about him, but staring up at the Moon, how could she not?

She couldn't remember exactly how long she stayed like that. Unmoving.

When she finally pulled herself up off the ground, she didn't know what her next plan of action would be. She couldn't make a fire, it would draw too much attention. But ice was beginning to crawl up her legs and she didn't think she could make it through the night without any heat. Without any warmth.

She sank back down to the ground, sitting on her knees. She shut her eyes tightly and rocked herself back and forth. She thought back to everything he had taught her.

 _"I'm just looking out for you Dawson." He said, taking her hand in his own and leading her to the forest. There favorite secret place._

 _"I really don't think I'll ever need to know any of this." She shook her head with a smile. She looked at his wild blonde hair as she walked behind him. She let him lead her._

 _"But if you do, you'll be prepared." He turned to her with a grin." Well, this is as far as we'll be going today."_

 _She rolled her eyes." What are we learning today Austin?" She said, the words familiar to her tongue. She repeated them every week on their wilderness retreats. Her voice always sounded the same too. Unexcited but blatantly interested._

 _"So glad you asked Ally." He bent down and picked some twigs up off the dirt underneath their feet." Today we are learning to build a fire. First things first, you'll need dry sticks."_

Her eyes snapped open and ran her hands across the forest floor. She picked up all the sticks around herself, throwing usable twigs in one pile and unusable twigs in another. Once she had what she thought was enough sticks, she thought back to the memory and endured the pain that came along with it.

 _"Why do they have to be dry?" She asked, watching him search for more sticks to use._

 _"This won't work with wet sticks because we can't ignite our fire. The moisture won't help us out." He looked up at her with adorably furrowed eyebrows." You should know that fire and water don't mix."_

 _She smiled and looked down at her sneakers." I know, I just love it when you get into that teacher voice." She felt his presence as he approached her." Oh yeah?" He stared down at her with his caramel eyes that were dotted with green and blue. Such a complex maze of colors. Every time she looked, she found a new shade._

 _"Yeah." She leaned up, waiting for a kiss to be planted onto her lips. Instead he turned away and went back to his sticks." Lessons not over yet Dawson."_

 _She chewed her lip before breathing out a disappointed sigh." What's next?"_

 _"Well, to really get this thing going we'll need tinder. That's the easiest part, all you need is dry grass or bark. Pine needles can also work." He grabbed a handful of emerald grass off the ground along with a smaller handful of pine needles. He formed a small pile of it and placed it on the ground. Around the tinder, he put the dry sticks he had collected before._

Ally could barely see, but she knew she had to do this. She wasn't about to let herself freeze. The ice was up to her thighs now.

She tore a chunk of grass out of the earth and balled it up. She put it down and grabbed her pile of sticks, putting them around the tinder.

 _"Are we done yet?" She groaned, staring at their little pile of nothing._

 _"Have patience my little padawan." He gave her a spirited glance." Now, for our purposes I brought some logs. But, if you really just want a small fire that should burn out quickly, this is an unnecessary step." Austin set the logs up around the fire, building a mini tepee._

 _"Almost done now." He took two rocks out of his adventure backpack." Now these can help you get the fire started, but that's a higher difficulty. So, we'll stick to matches today."_

 _"Great, I can do that." She took off her own identical adventure backpack. His was a camouflage backpack and so was her's. The only difference was, her camouflage was red. Her favorite color. His was just the typical green._

 _She pulled out the matches Austin had put there. She struck a match and dropped it on the tinder and sticks. She watched the fire come to life._

 _"You did it! See, now you can build a fire." He stepped over the flames nonchalantly, and put his arms around her._

 _She buried her head in his shoulder." I think this was one of my favorite lessons yet." She felt him grin against her chestnut hair." I'm glad." He whispered, and he pulled away enough to see her face. The fire burned next to them, but they only had eyes for each other._

 _"Lessons over right?" She cocked an eyebrow as she thought back to earlier._

 _"Sure is." He stared down at her lips, the same thoughts running through his head._

 _He tilted his head down towards her and she lifted herself up onto her tiptoes. Their lips met, making more sparks than the fire itself._

She broke away from the memory, shivering in the darkness. It only fueled her longing.

The ice was making its way up her torso. She threw her backpack off her shoulders. She rummaged through it until her fingers brushed against her matchbox. She pulled it out and lit a match. It took her a couple of tries.

Once she finally got the small bead of fire going, she threw it onto her pile.

Almost immediately she felt herself begin to thaw. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she clasped her hands together. She mentally thanked Austin, and opened her eyes back up.

The fire stayed along for a nice amount of time, but of course, it slowly began to fade like any fire would. She sighed as she stared at the burning embers.' Gotta keep going.' She thought and lifted herself onto her feet. She threw her backpack over her shoulders and her fingers squeezed the necklace around her neck. The necklace he had given her.

Before another bittersweet memory could force it's way into her thoughts, she began to run.

Slowly her eyes caught on certain aspects of the forest.

A tree stump like the one where she and Dez used to play fight each other.

A jumble of bushes where she remembered playing hide-and-seek with Trish.

And finally a clearing where she had built her first fire. With him.

She stumbled.' So close.'

She broke out of the forest, falling on her side. She couldn't catch her breath. Her legs were useless.

A moment of sleep was all she needed. Or at least that's what she told herself as her eyelids covered her eyes.

...

"Ally?"

"Ally, get up!"

A pause.

"They're coming."

Her eyes flashed open. Someone was shaking her shoulders roughly.

"Oh, thank god." Ringlets of pitch black hair and a twinkling smile." Get up off the ground, we've got to go."

"Trish?" Ally breathed, struggling to sit up. A head of red hair came into her line of vision." And Dez."

"Where are we-? No, no we can't." She cleared her throat." Not yet Trish."

A confused look fell across her oldest friend's face." Why not?" Surprisingly patient considering the limited time.

"It's Austin. He stayed back to buy me time but...I don't know where he is and I need him Trish. I'm not going to make it without him." She felt a pang of hurt in her chest.

"Oh, Ally. He can get through this. Have faith in him. But don't take the time he bought for you and waste it." Trish stood up and offered her hand." Come with us. Put on your brave face."

Her face contorted with pain. She wanted to scream it hurt so much. But she took her friends hand and stood up, dusting herself off." Why did they pick this town?"

Trish sighed, squeezing Ally's shoulder comfortingly." I don't know but the attacks have been near here for a while now. They want to watch the world burn Ally, they don't need a reason."

She kicked a rock by her feet. Her legs complained, obviously sore and in need of rest." Maybe somebody needs to stand up to them."

"Don't think like that." Trish climbed into her car, Dez was already in the passenger seat.

"Fine, but if I don't find Austin soon, I'm going after him. And nobody better get in my way."

 **Current thoughts: Woah, what is this weird alternate universe? Who are these people attacking towns? WHERE'S AUSTIN? Some of these questions may or may not be answered in the next chapter. You might just want to check it out anyway though :) Review, favorite, and follow Auslly people**


End file.
